[SECC] re : N8SM Tower Accident

[ku8e at bellsouth.net]

 Hi All...

 By now I'm sure many of you have heard about the tragic dead of Steve Miller,
 N8SM. (ex-WD8IXE) He was killed instantly after he fell off his tower this
 past Sunday. This news has hit me especially hard since I have been good 
 friends with Steve going back to the days that we both were attending Ohio 
 State University in the 1980's. That was the peak of contesting at W8LT with
 N8VW, KD8NS(W4EF), K3JT, W8LX, WD8IXE and myself all vying for the operating 
 position.

   I have many good memories of all the fun we had back at W8LT, all the 
 various multi-ops we did together up in Ohio at KS8S, W8FN, KW8N and other 
 places. One year we even setup and operated Field Day from my parents 
 backyard. Another year all of us from W8LT took a boat over to Pelee
 Island, in Lake Erie to do FD as W8LT/VE3. Getting there was just as memorable
 as the contest because of the gale warnings on the lake. I can assure you that
 the waves on Lake Erie can get as high as ocean waves after that experience. 
 We had a good laugh about that afterwards along with some beers.

 One of my favorite memories was from the mid 1990's when I went to J6DX to operate CQWW DX SSB with Steve. That was the first time I met a cocky young contester named Paul Gentry - who we all know now as  K9PG. I remember the fun we had exploring St. Lucia during the week. We even went to the airport one day and the 3 of us along with Dale, W8KTQ , took a  helicoptor ride over the island. We managed to talk the pilot to hover over the J6DX QTH and got some great pictures !

 It always sucks when we lose someone from the contesting fraternity but it
 sucks even more when that person is a good friend too....

                              Jeff  KU8E



> 
> From: "Steve Bolia" <n8bjq at erinet.com>
> Date: 2003/06/17 Tue AM 08:51:12 EDT
> To: ku8e at bellsouth.net
> Subject: N8SM Obit
> 
> Jeff
> 
> This is from the Dallas paper this morning
> 
> MILLER, STEVE (N8SM) age 38, of Prosper, Texas passed away suddenly on 
> June 15, 2003. Steve was born July 17, 1964 in Dayton, Ohio to John and 
> Mary Jane Miller. Steve graduated from Centerville High School in 1982 
> and went on to study at Ohio State University where he attained a BS 
> and went on to gain his MS in Electrical Engineering. He married 
> Radhicar Lutchmansingh in San Fernando, Trinidad on May 30, 1998. Steve 
> was an accomplished musician and loved to play the saxaphone. He was a 
> Ham Radio Operator since the age of 10. Steve worked as an engineer at 
> Texas Instruments and was a member of the Catholic Faith. He is 
> survived by his wife, Radhicar Miller of Prosper, TX; daughter Elise 
> Miller of Prosper, TX; parents, John and Mary Jane Miller of 
> Centerville, OH; brother, Andrew J. Miller of Kettering, OH and 
> sisters, Regina Kocevar of Centerville, OH and Kerri Jones of Chicago, 
> IL. Funeral services will be held at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral 
> Home, 8520 Main Street, Frisco at 2:00pm on Thursday, June 19, 2003. 
> Family visitation will be held at the funeral home from 7-9pm on 
> Wednesday, June 18, 2003. Turrentine Jackson Morrow Ridgeview Memorial 
> Park Frisco 972-335-2444 Celina 972-382-2311 
> TurrentineJacksonMorrow.com 
> Published in the Dallas Morning News on 6/17/2003.  
> 
> Steve
> 
>